Pharmaceutical Technologist - November 2007 - (Page 14)

Aitken // of products in the total pipeline are biologic in nature. The year saw 31 new molecular entities launched in key markets, central to which for their high potential were: ● Gardasil, the first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer ● Januvia, the first-in-class oral for Type II diabetes ● Sutent for renal cancer. Meanwhile, products introduced in earlier years, such as Aranesp, Herceptin and Vytorin, were able to demonstrate their clinical superiority and ability to fill previously unmet needs. Despite these successes, the underlying dynamics of growth and change continued to alter the landscape. Brands with cumulative sales in excess of $18 billion (€12.77 billion) lost their patent protection in key markets. With high uptake of lower-cost therapies replacing branded products in classes such as lipid regulators, antidepressants, platelet aggregation inhibitors, antiemetics and respiratory agents, generics will assume a more central role, as payers seek to restrict the growth of healthcare expenditures. Increased pressure on pricing and access Notwithstanding the launch of Medicare Part D, which helped to subsidize costs for some 24 million Americans, 2006 saw another raft of cost management efforts including across-the-board price cuts in Spain, Poland and China and the use of jumbo reference pricing groups in Germany. Efforts are now gathering steam to make controls more rational by gauging precisely the health and economic value of medicines through health technology assessments (HTAs). These mechanisms, however, are subject to varying standards between countries, making it Figure 3 Global geographies rebalance as emerging markets contribute 27% to world sales growth 1 difficult for manufacturers to provide timely and compelling evidence that will meet the needs of a growing and disparate set of evaluators and decision-makers. As public policy continues to be the greatest influence in driving decisions on healthcare spending, the industry needs to better articulate the value of its medicines — demonstrating and quantifying the ability of therapies to reduce total healthcare costs, increase economic productivity, improve the quality of life and extend life itself. Another factor influencing the market is a critical shift in power in healthcare to emerging stakeholders — most notably patients as they take charge of their health and demand greater access to therapies that will improve or prolong their lives. And because patients are both consumers and ultimate payers, they are gaining the power to compel regulatory approvals, influence market access decisions and sway prescribing behaviour. New demands on pharma These ongoing shifts and changes in the market are placing new demands on pharmaceutical and biotech companies of all sizes. The baseline requirements for growth are even greater, and the managerial skills required are increasingly elusive. The near future is likely to see many companies with changing fortunes. However, those that understand how to take advantage of the new environment will continue to deliver innovation to the market and drive the betterment of global health. Some manufacturers are already taking action — Japan 4 AC 8 2006 $42.4 billion 2001 $45.5 billion Rest of world 8 27 AC Emerging markets 13 16 Western Europe 29 50 US 10 0 10 20 30 40 46 50 60 % contribution to absolute change Source: IMS Health, IMS Market Prognosis International, March 2007 14 November 2007 l pharmaceutical technologist

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Pharmaceutical Technologist - November 2007

Pharmaceutical Technologist Contents Editor's Comment News Morpheus Feeling the Pressure Legal Crusaders The Holy-Grail of Start-Up Biotech Special Feature Q&A

Pharmaceutical Technologist - November 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.